Man Proposes, God Disposes
by Tryem Loir
Summary: KomuiBak. 'Sometimes we do the wrong thing for all the right reasons' - in their relationship it wasn't a matter of years, or domestic bliss or even devotion. When Komui Lee became the Head Officer he paid for it in blood. This is how it happened. AU-ish.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Man Proposes, God Disposes 1/2  
**Pairing:** Komui/Bak  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Warnings:** This part is just humor, semi-romance and Komui being a manipulative ass. Angst and drama in the next part. Spoilers for Chapters 159-164, you know, the one with the zombies and the Komuvitan-D virus.  
**Note:** I wanted to write about the aftermath of the Komuvitan-D incident, because the abrupt ending in the manga really stumped me...this bit is really fluffy/sort-of-funny but the next bit gets darker.

* * *

_Later on, Bak, who'd come to help with the move, created a new vaccine for the Komuvitan-D after many hardships._ - pg 15, Chapter 164

_Why do I even bother?_ Bak thought, sitting heavily on the couch to open one of the standard first aid kits he had found in the medicine cupboard. 'Wong, make sure everyone who has been administered a standard dose helps find any remaining stragglers once they're feeling up to it. The last thing we need is another delay.'

'Of course Bak-sama!' The old man bowed once, deeply, and with a discretely exasperated glance back, left the Science Department with a group of scientists, a few finders and one or two doctors in tow. Bak didn't blame him. This wasn't so much a delay as it was a _disaster_, one of draconian proportions. He had only needed to see the eerie, short-circuiting corpse of a weird looking robot in the hall for everything to fall into place and it had taken an ungodly amount of willpower not to usher his team back into the Ark and return to China, where he could be a continent away from the mess he would, by proxy, have to sort out. _Again_.

It hadn't been easy. In fact it had been quite horrifying and he was sure the experience would haunt him the rest of his natural born life. Bak sighed and fished around for swabs of cotton wool and a bottle of antiseptic. 'Honestly,' he grumbled, twisting the cap open. The paperwork for this was going to be enormous. 'I leave for two seconds and everything goes to hell. I swear you go out of your way to make my life difficult. Sit up.'

Komui made a pathetic sound and raised himself up from the floor. He pressed his cheek against Bak's knee and groaned, no doubt looking for a sympathy party. He was pale, ashen and dishevelled and looked like he hadn't slept in a month. 'I _told_ you,' he whined, rubbing his forehead against the fabric like it would dull the ache. 'It wasn't my fault!'

A chorus of jeers, 'yeah right's and the occasional 'stupid Head Officer' spread throughout the Science Department like instant wildfire. Dark looks were shot in their direction.

Bak rolled his eyes. 'No, of course not, it was...what did you say again? Oh yes, a ghost girl gave a virus to one of the exorcists, who then in turn spread it throughout the Order and turned everyone else into zombies.' He paused to raise an eyebrow. 'Did you _really_ expect me to believe that nonsense?'

Komui pouted. His glasses were twisted, broken frames dangling over his nose, hair sticking in odd curls, his beret nowhere to be found. 'But it's true – _ow_!' Bak grabbed his chin in a surprisingly firm hand and pressed the swab against the cut on his right cheek. He held it there for a few seconds and then started dabbing the blood away.

Naturally it stung like a bitch.

'Owowowow!' The other man whimpered as the antiseptic was bathed over all the grazes and bruises from his neck up. 'Bak-chan, you have no bedside manner to speak of – _OW_!' Bak pressed the swab down hard against a bite mark.

'Do you know how much work this damage report is going to cost me?' he said in a dangerously low voice. 'You destroyed over half of the Black Order HQ for no apparent reason, and don't even bother trying to deny it,' he warned the moment Komui opened his mouth to protest. 'The Vatican is going to throw a fit and somehow I'm going to end up covering your ass, _again_,' he emphasized the words heavily, 'because I believe that young man over there isn't exactly singing your praises right now.'

He gestured at Link with his eyes. The Inspector was scribbling away hastily in a large book (brand new) in the corner of the room, no doubt making up for the one that Komurin EX had destroyed by writing in greater detail, and probably suggesting Komui's punishment be increased tenfold while he was at it.

'And if you don't hold still and let me do my job,' Bak went on, pulling Komui's ruined Head Officer overcoat down over his shoulders and rolling the sleeves of his white cotton turtleneck back over his arms, 'I'm going to come to my senses and tell that devil woman on you.'

The Matron of the Order was a nightmare. Bak considered writing in a complaint because whoever that ghastly woman was, she was no Florence Nightingale. He hoped he was never injured at HQ ever again. If he said he was fine, he was fine dammit! Morphine had been completely unnecessary.

Komui's eyes went wide behind his ruined spectacles. They ended up slipping off his face and clattering to the floor. The look he gave Bak was one that spoke of deep wounds and intense betrayal.

Then he twisted his upper body around and extended his hands dramatically. 'Section Chief Reever, save me!' he wailed.

'No way Curly!'

'Reever, how could you?! After all we've been through!' he exclaimed, aghast.

Bak sighed again, grabbed Komui's collar in his fist and returned to his task.

* * *

Halfway across the rubble strewn department Li Kei sighed in contentment. 'I love it when Director Bak starts berating someone else for a change.'

'I'm surprised Head Officer Komui didn't try to head him off,' Shifu replied somewhat absently, crouched down near a set of packing boxes. He peered at his checklist. 'Nothing short of a good kick by Miss Fou will stop the Director now and she's not here. He was working himself up into a state and now he'll be going on for hours.'

'Let them be,' Reever said, appearing with a stack of books under his arm. He dumped them unceremoniously into one of the boxes and straightened to stretch the kink in his back. 'It's been a while since the Chief got such a tongue-lashing from Director Bak. It'll be good for him.' He sighed wistfully. 'Man, it's a real shame that Bak is leading the Asia Branch now, he used to watch Komui like a hawk while he was here and we never ended up dealing with this...' he gestured openly at the ruined room. '...well, you know.'

'Mr. Bak can control Komui...?' Allen whistled lowly. 'Well count me impressed.' Reever laughed a little at that.

'Well I wouldn't say he can _control_ him, exactly...' he said, trailing off to watch the pair in question.

'What happened to TLC?' Komui whimpered, and though Reever couldn't see it he knew the Chief was doing his impersonation of a kicked puppy.

'If they didn't teach it in the labs I never learnt it,' Bak replied impatiently and dipped another swab in the antiseptic. 'Stop acting up. I'm not going to kill you.'

_Yet_, Reever thought ominously, shivering at the sight of the tight smile that cut across the Branch Director's face.

Evidently Komui had seen the threat too. '_Lenalee_!' he shrieked to the girl as she passed by to pick up some loose papers, flinging his arms out to her like an actor in a Greek tragedy. 'Lenalee, my sweet Lenalee, tell this monster to stop picking on me! He's absolutely heartless!'

Lenalee hesitated. 'Brother...' She smiled a little. 'Please don't give Mr. Bak any more trouble than you already have okay?'

Komui looked horror-stricken. Bak smiled benevolently at her. 'You are a dear, Miss Lenalee,' he said in his sweetest voice and Allen was surprised to find that he was not stuttering or making an idiot out of himself. He really was worked up. 'Could you pass me the rubbing alcohol please? Thank you.'

'_What_...? What is that? _Oh god_ what are you...?!' They heard Komui exclaim with increasing dread as Lenalee exchanged a few more niceties with Bak and strolled over to their side of the room. A strangled scream of agony echoed in her wake.

'I wouldn't say either of them can control the other,' Reever began again. 'Because the Chief has done some pretty embarrassing things to Director Bak in the past...' He eyed the telltale bottle of familiar hair tonic lying inconspicuously on its side and quickly tossed it in with all the other junk. 'But Bak Chan is fully capable of dishing it out too, and when he does he really shows no mercy.'

'I wonder where he learnt _that_ from...' Allen muttered, instantly reminded of a guardian spirit with the artificial body of a little girl and the _very real_ temper of an angry bull.

'Oh Miss Fou teases our Director a lot, for sure,' Shifu said with a shrug. 'But she claims that she taught him everything worth knowing in life.'

'Like how to beat someone up if they piss you off without really trying?' Lavi piped up, appearing suddenly at Allen's shoulder. He bent over and began rummaging through the boxes with interest.

'Like how to make a grown man cry like a little girl?' Li Kei added, looking back nervously towards the couch when Komui started making odd noises, like he was going to die if Bak came near him with the rubbing alcohol again.

'Komui already cries like a little girl,' Kanda said flatly, somewhere to the left. Lavi ducked his head to snicker away the wicked grin on his face. Li Kei didn't even try and laughed outright.

Reever resisted the urge. 'Yeah well...' he coughed into his fist to hide his grin.

'Tough love is the only way to get him to behave,' Lenalee said, shaking her head, two parts exasperation and three parts affection. She templed her fingers together in front of her face and smiled slyly behind them. 'That's why Brother's always saying that Mr. Bak is the reason why he'll never get married.'

There was a brief pause in which Allen tried to pick apart this gibberish that had just been spoken to him.

'Don't let Two-Spot hear you say that Lenalee,' Lavi sounded amused. 'He's already trying to land your brother in court.'

'Well they might as well be,' she told him, clasping her hands behind her back and shrugging easily. 'It's been ten years you know.'

_Wait..._

'Don't listen to your brother's stories Lenalee,' Reever said. 'He's a romantic at heart. That's just how long they've known each other and Director Bak would surely tell you otherwise.'

'_Seven_ years then.'

'On and off like crazy though.'

She scrunched up her nose a little. 'What does it matter? They certainly _act_ like an old married couple.'

'One that's constantly on the edge of _divorce_ maybe,' Kanda muttered. He pointedly looked away when she whirled to glare at him.

'They remind me of old man Lim and the dragon lady,' Lavi piped up. 'You know, the couple running that laundry service in downtown London. The ones who are always flinging all sort of insults at each other in Cantonese...?'

'Dragon lady?'

'That's his wife, Lavi,' Lenalee said patiently.

_...What?_

'No kidding,' Li Kei thought this over. He was grinning. 'That would explain why Director Bak's constantly on the phone to HQ though.'

Reever rolled his eyes. 'Not his fault, believe me. I can tell you right now that the Chief wastes a lot of time and money on making international calls to China at least twice a day just to bug the hell out of the Branch Director. And he always slips the latest news somewhere into the conversation so Bak has no choice but to listen to him.'

Shifu seemed impressed. 'Amazing. To be able to con the Director like that...Head Officer Komui must really be something.' Lenalee and Reever shared a look between them.

'Oh he's _something_ all right,' Reever said with a tired shake of his head. Lenalee hid a giggle behind her hand.

Lavi smirked. 'And here I thought he was just calling because he wanted to engage Director Bak in phone se –'

'Keep your fantasies to yourself,' Kanda said darkly.

'Hmph,' Lavi made a sweeping motion with his hand as if to brush that statement aside, 'Well if you ask _me_ Komui's acting like one of those henpecked husbands whose wives always work away from home. He gets into a shitload of trouble while Bak's away but now that he's back he's all but ready to roll over and wag his tail and beg for treats.'

'Are you telling me that the Director has Head Officer Komui whipped?'

'No, he just has grudge-bearing abilities the size of China.'

'The Chan family is renowned for its poisons,' Reever whispered, leaning in conspiratorially. 'I hear Director Bak is especially good at them. It's thanks to him that the Chief is so snobby about coffee.'

All eyebrows in the group shot up. 'Are you serious?'

Reever shrugged. 'Apparently it's because Director Bak developed a penchant for spiking his tea whenever the Chief pissed him off.'

'Are you _sure_ that's why?' Lavi said seriously. 'For all we know he was trying to drug Komui so he could get the jump on him when they f –'

This time Kanda didn't waste words and just hit him upside the head.

'Wait, wait, _wait_,' Allen shook his hands, willing his ears to catch up with his brain before the conversation went beyond his realm of understanding. 'Are you telling me that Komui and Mr. Bak are...' he pointed between them in disbelief.

'Oh Allen,' Lavi drawled and swung a companionable arm around his shoulder, 'still such a _child_. Don't worry; you'll understand when you get older and have a pretty little wife of your own, one that'll make you feel like a _man's man_...'

'You're not exactly one to talk, Lavi...'

Komui's practiced whine drifted over from the other side of them room, 'You're doing that on purpose!' Bak took his wrist and began to clean off stray bits of gravel, rubbing the antiseptic in harder than necessary.

'You're catching on,' he said, smiling unpleasantly. Komui shot a pleading look over his shoulder. Everyone quickly pretended to go about their business. It was quite clear that no one was going to forgive him for this particular incident any time soon.

Allen frowned. 'You call _that_ marriage?'

Lavi sighed dramatically and 'tsk'ed. '_That_ is domestic bliss, Allen,' he said with a perfectly straight face.

'Looks more like domestic _torture_ if you ask me,' Allen replied, turning back when Komui looked about ready to moan and drown himself in self-pity again. Bak raised an eyebrow. Komui smiled meekly and didn't resist when his other arm was lifted for inspection.

Allen stared at them, a little disturbed by Komui's sudden submissive side. 'I almost feel sorry for him,' he admitted, rubbing his own arms in sympathy.

'Don't be,' Reever said quickly. A few surrounding scientists hastily nodded their agreement.

'"_Almost_" being the operative word,' Lavi joked, lifting something out of the junk pile and hefting what looked like a broken telescope between his hands.

* * *

Bak was silent and scowling. Komui shifted uncomfortably. 'Are you mad at me...?' he finally asked. He kept his voice low.

_Please say no. It's been ages since you were angry enough to attempt slipping poison into my food and I'm so out of practice I don't think I can remember how to tell the difference._

Bak frowned at the man sitting cross-legged in front of his knees. His grey eyes were like ice. '_Mad_?' he scoffed, and ran his finger over the wet rim of the bottle. 'Why on earth would I be mad? What can I do if you decide to waste your time with useless experiments that somehow, inevitably, come back to bite you in the ass? I just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time, that's all. _Don't move_.' He bent over at the waist and daubed antiseptic over the tear in Komui's lower lip with his fingertip. It itched. Komui squirmed.

'I mean it's not my fault,' Bak went on. 'I don't know why I'm even thinking about pleading your case to that Inspector over there. _Ugh_, I can only imagine what Leverrier will say.' He self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. 'I'll be having a few words with Reever after this. He's obviously letting you idle too long. Honestly, someone in your position shouldn't even have the time to scratch an itch, let alone make all this useless junk.'

He turned his nose up at the unidentifiable mound of failed experiments on the other side of the room and made a face.

Komui sighed dejectedly. 'You _are_ mad.' He cringed when Bak picked up the rubbing alcohol again. The Branch Director rolled his eyes and put the bottle back in the first aid kit.

'Oh stop that,' he said brusquely and put the antiseptic away as well, 'I'm done with you anyway.' He started fiddling with bandages. Komui visibly unwound, his shoulders slumping. He leaned back on his hands and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Bak didn't miss it. 'Don't be dramatic,' he said. 'You're lucky you're just banged up and not in need of real stitches or any kind of crap like that.'

Komui laughed. 'Just because you're useless with a needle and thread, Bak-chan...' he teased, flinching when Bak slapped a bandaid over the prominent cut on the side of his face.

'I have a few things to say to _you_ too,' he threatened, unrolling the gauze and dressing the cuts along Komui's wrist with a quick, almost detached efficiency. He huffed, blowing blonde bangs out of his eyes. 'Like this talent for troublemaking. I don't know _why_ I still think you'll grow out of it.'

'I like to believe we were all born on this earth for some reason or another,' Komui replied philosophically with an impish grin. Bak scoffed.

'_Idiot_. Why, why, _why_ do you insist on being difficult?'

Komui wiggled his fingers, flexing them around the bandage. He feigned a thoughtful expression. 'I don't know Bak-chan,' he lilted in a sing-song hum. 'Why are _you_ being so nice to me today?'

'Why are _you_ trying to feed me a cock-and-bull story about a ghost?' Bak shot back.

Komui made a show of pouting. 'You can't answer my question with a question,' he accused. 'That topic is totally irrelevant to this flow of conversation.'

'You damn well _owe me_, Komui Lee.'

A surprisingly soft smile appeared on the Head Officer's face. 'Just like old times, huh?' he said reminiscently.

'You'll forgive me if I don't join you on your trip down memory lane,' Bak replied monotonously, 'but I have no desire to repeat illicit affairs in a storage room if it's all the same.'

'Killjoy,' Komui sighed, pretending to look supremely injured. 'Well I suppose if you really want to know the who and what of it...' He cast a deliberate glance around the premises, smiled slyly and leaned in, propping his arms up on Bak's knees. '..._I had fantasies about you, my office and that couch_,' he purred, abruptly switching to Mandarin.

He wondered if it would be prudent to admit that he had made a game out of seeing how fast he could make Bak's entire face turn red. Bonus points if he could do it without having the poor man break out in hives. And as Bak lunged forward, leaning down on the couch to grab his collar, Komui grinned inwardly and silently tallied his score.

'You lousy, perverted son of a –' he snarled in the same tongue. 'After all the shit you put me through...!'

Komui tilted his head, smiled coyly and managed to shake off his Head Officer's coat. '_Too easy_,' he said, framed either side of Bak's face in his bandaged hands and kissed him full on the mouth.

There was a pause. He pulled back a little. 'What the _hell_ are you thinking –' Bak hissed. His eyes were wide and furious, grey thunderclouds.

'Disciple creation experiments...' Komui murmured against his lips. His face was serious. He kissed Bak again. '_Strausser_...forced accommodators...' He lipped the corner of his reddening mouth, 'Fallen one...how much do you remember?' and slipped his tongue past his teeth.

The hands on his collar slackened and pushed against his shoulders instead. Their noses slid against each other. Komui let up. '_What_...? The year was 1891...mid-summer, absolutely _miserable_ weather...did you really think I would _forget_?' Bak demanded and started to catch his breath. He stared at the man in front of him, hard and inscrutable, for a long, long minute.

Then he heaved a sigh, as if the whole weight of the world had been dumped on his shoulders. 'Couldn't you have just _asked_ me?' he growled. His Mandarin was short and clipped with familiar use and the sudden nostalgia made Komui grin, all good humour returning on the spot.

'Not as much fun,' he admitted, not sounding the least bit repentant. Bak glared at him. Komui smiled back. 'See if I did _that_,' he whispered, moving his hands down and snaking his arms around Bak's neck, 'then I wouldn't be able to do _this_.' He tugged.

Bak jerked forward with a muffled yelp of surprise, his lips crashing against Komui's as he tumbled off the couch, his hands immediately lifting up to brace his fall. Komui let the momentum tilt him backwards. They landed on the floor in a tangled heap.

He pushed the dumbstruck Branch Director back by his shoulders at arm's length and grinned widely. 'Ooh, Bak-chan you're so _forceful_!' he said delightedly, very loud, and in _very clear_, enunciated English. Bak's jaw dropped. Komui took the opportunity of his stunned mullet impersonation to tilt his head up, steal a deep kiss and flip them over.

Then he casually started unbuttoning his _changshan_.

There was a staggered silence. On the other side of the room, a box hit the floor. 'Head Officer!' Reever exclaimed in the exact same tone of exasperation he adopted whenever he caught Komui slacking off.

'Hm...?' He glanced up.

'There is a time –' Reever said tightly, gritting his teeth, 'And a _place_...for everything. Don't-you-_agree_...?' Komui blinked. He looked at Bak, who seemed like he was going to knee him in the groin at any given moment. Then he looked around the room. The other occupants all stared back at him with expressions of horrified fascination. Then he grinned.

'You're _absolutely_ right, Section Chief Reever,' he said, braced himself and got to his feet. He pulled Bak after him. The Branch Director glared out at the masses, his face bright red. His hat was knocked askew and he was trying unsuccessfully to pull his ruined _changshan_ over his bare shoulder. Komui patted him on the back and straightened his collar in a very business-like fashion.

'Well then Reever!' he said brusquely and bent over to pick up his discarded coat. 'I'm not going to be back for awhile so please tell everyone I'll be held up for the next few hours or so, okay?' He smiled winningly and dropped his coat over Bak's shoulders. It dragged against the floor. 'Don't worry Bak-chan,' he said gallantly. 'I will shield your nakedness.'

'You – ' Bak spluttered something incoherent and, judging from the glint in his eyes, possibly murderous. Komui placed his hand against the small of his back and steered the other man towards his office. He didn't have to look to know the smug bastard was grinning.

'_We need to talk_,' he murmured, soft and dark against Bak's ear. He shivered. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

'_Head Officer_!'

'Section Chief, control yourself!'

'_Office sex_...! Now why didn't I think of that –?'

_WHACK!_

'Nobody wants to know, you idiot!'

'_Goddammit_ Curly, have you no shame!?'

'He's not worth it! Come on Chief, don't throw that, it's a priceless antique!'

'This is payback for the rubbing alcohol, isn't it?' Bak muttered, stalking indignantly into the unlocked room when Komui held the door open, bowing like an aged butler welcoming the young master home to the family mansion.

Komui grinned. 'More or less,' he replied, smirked at Bak's outraged expression and closed the door behind them.

The click of the lock was deafening in the immediate silence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Man Proposes, God Disposes 2/?  
**Pairing:** Komui/Bak  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Warnings:** Some disturbing scenes. Spoilers for Chapters 159-164, you know, the one with the zombies and the Komuvitan-D virus.  
**Summary:** 'Sometimes we do the wrong thing for all the right reasons' - in their relationship it wasn't a matter of years, or domestic bliss or even devotion.  
**Note:** I wanted to write about the aftermath of the Komuvitan-D incident, because the abrupt ending in the manga really stumped me. There are also some pre-series AU'ish parts. I also made up a timeline, since DGM is supposedly at the end of the 19th century and all

This went from being a simple 2-part fic follow up to that arc, but now it's become a speculation on how Komui became Head Officer and stopped the Disciple Creation Experiments as well. So things have gotten dark. And they'll only get darker.

* * *

_18__th__ April 1891 (9:25am)_

'Remind me why we're doing this again.'

Komui shrugged on his lab coat. 'Well, we can't exactly continue researching the Innocence without getting right down to the source of things right...?' He noted the scepticism in Bak's frown and smiled encouragingly. 'Come on, Bak-chan,' he teased. 'Chin up. It probably won't be as bad as you think.'

'You've obviously never met Strausser,' Bak said darkly. 'I'm not surprised. He seems to think he's above showing face at the general meetings.'

When Komui showed no signs of dawning comprehension he pinched the bridge of his nose and seemed to struggle with some part of himself before muttering, 'I'm serious, Komui. You'd do best to avoid that guy. Ask anyone. The man is a bastard and the only reason he retains his post as Head Officer is because the higher-ups are impressed with his medical discoveries.' Komui grinned.

'Oh is that all?' he said, and straightened to adjust his beret. His dark eyes were gleaming. 'Well we'll just have to steal his thunder then, won't we?'

* * *

_Present Day, 1895_

Bak threw his hat down on the desk; he couldn't make it look decent without a mirror in front of him anyway. It laid there, stark black against the browning edges of unfinished paperwork. He had almost turned to walk right out again when he had seen the mess but Komui was still standing in front of the locked doors like a silent, gangly sentinel, barring the only available exit.

The Branch Director sighed. It was unnerving to see Komui suddenly start acting with the intelligence that Bak knew he possessed but felt better pretending didn't exist...he never knew what to make of Komui when he wasn't being an idiot.

He held his hands up. 'Okay,' he grumbled. 'You've got me and I'm going to cut straight to the chase Komui...you haven't talked about those experiments in years. What's going on?'

'How many victims do you remember?' Bak raised his eyebrows.

'Excuse me? How many...there were hundreds of them. You know that. And if you mean their names, well ...what sort of a question is that? I remember them all of course, same as you! If you recall Chief,' he huffed, 'you were rather anal that those of us who could should try to retain as much knowledge of that time as – '

'Good,' Komui said abruptly. He smiled. 'Could you recite them for me?'

Bak stared at him. 'Did you hit your head?' he finally demanded. 'I think I'll go call Wong and ask him to examine you for signs of concussion because,' he laughed a little, 'if I didn't know any better Komui I'd think you were challenging me to – '

Komui pursed his lips. 'Oh well, I understand if you can't...' he said in such a sympathetic way that Bak just knew he was mocking him, '...it has been a long time; your memory is probably hazy at best – '

'Kate Brolly,' Bak snapped. 'Nicola Ledeux, Jacob Cress, Sang Nyugen, August D'Orno, Gustav Sinclair, Ava Braun, Sammy Greenburg, Lise Lorenz, Indra Dahlstrom, Kie Minoshita, April Shears, Ana Boleyn – '

'Enrico de Mascagni,' Komui interrupted, clasping his hands behind his back and rocking back on the balls of his feet. He was humming. 'Tila Orman, Alice Eilmann, Apolline Rousseau, Virginie Fraga, Dai Minh, Richard Veillieiux, Haruka Honda, Bao Lin, Alva Sutherland, Julian Ringer, Sergio Marquez, Ernst von Roth, Albert Elrich – '

Well. Two could play at this game.

'Sunday Balthazar,' Bak scowled, cutting him off. 'Barnaby Martin, Lily Ng, Celestin Ducre, Grace Timbers, Shan Li, Delphine Poum, Jonathon Gray –'

'Ken Yokohama,' Komui drawled, pretending to inspect his nails and inciting Bak's temper even further. 'Leona Eisenstein, Juan Ramirez, Yao Xiaomei, Simeon du Vipan, Marie Louise – '

'Gianni Procenzo!'

Komui shrugged. 'Estelle Imelda,' he said, and unbidden, the corner of his mouth curled into a faint smirk.

'Ferdinand Berlioz,' Bak snarled, refusing to be outdone.

'Prima Auteil.'

'Ottomar Dacha!'

'Emil Dumont.'

'Conrad Toushec!'

'Hui Chan,' Komui murmured, and turned on him with dark, unreadable eyes.

Bak felt his blood run cold.

* * *

_18__th__ April 1891 (11:59am)_

A minute passed in silence. Somewhere in the Order a great clock chimed the hour, echoing twelve times in succession. Reever was eyeing the physician sitting directly in front of him warily, looking for the life of him like he was desperately trying not to blink. And Bak's scowling countenance hadn't changed in the slightest since their conversation early that morning.

The various departments in the Order rarely worked so closely together on projects like this. There was the unspoken agreement that everyone just got their own job done and didn't cause problems that would hinder the daily functioning of the Order. Naturally the tension was palpable. Komui shifted uncomfortably and forced himself to meet the piercing blue eyes at the head of the table. Head Officer Viktor Strausser looked more like an old war general than a doctor. Worry lines creased his pale face; his flaxen hair was greying at the temples and when he folded his gnarled hands together, as if he were waiting for someone to break the silence and screw it up, Komui swallowed hard and attempted what he thought was a fairly confident smile.

'Head Officer Viktor,' he said in a voice that he hoped didn't betray his nerves. 'It is a pleasure to finally meet you.'

To his utter relief the man smiled back. 'Komui Lee,' he said in heavily accented English. 'The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. To become a Section Chief at your age is no small feat. You must feel accomplished.'

'You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, sir,' Komui replied honestly, warmed by the thought of his sister, who he would have held on to forever and built a fence around so no one could touch her ever again if she would just let him.

'I see.' Strausser scratched his beard thoughtfully, his gaze unreadable. He turned his head. 'Herr Chan,' he said suddenly, and to Komui's immense surprise, 'I have to admit I didn't expect to see you here.'

'Dr. Strausser,' the Branch Director acknowledged smoothly, 'the Section Chief requested my presence and expertise for this research project but I have to admit, I'm also a bit curious as to how you go about these experiments.' He arched an eyebrow.

Komui suddenly regretted asking Bak along for moral support.

'Indeed. I heard about your father,' Strausser went on and bowed his head. Bak twitched. 'My condolences to you and your family. Li Sheng was a great man and an excellent Branch Director. Leaving the Asia Branch like this to attend to our humble venture...why you must have inherited his nobility to a cause, Herr Chan.'

Komui had never seen Bak so red-faced. 'I assure you, Dr. Strausser,' he said stiffly, 'that the Asia Branch is run by some of the most competent souls you will ever meet in this lifetime. It will not fall to ruin over the course of a few months.'

'You think the akuma will wait?' Strausser replied, and gave Bak a terse look that Komui had seen the senior scientists give their stubborn, headstrong apprentices. It was an expression that screamed thoughts of 'youthful arrogance'.

Komui quickly stepped in before things escalated. He rose to his feet. 'Ah, Head Officer,' he said brightly. 'If there's nothing you wish to go over...perhaps we could get started?'

'Very well, Komui Lee,' Strausser pushed his chair back and followed suit. Komui noticed he leant the majority of the weight on his left side against an ornate gold-and-black cane. He fixed his Head Officer's coat with dignity and made a polite 'after you' gesture. 'If you'll follow me to the medical lab then,' he said and limped out the door, his team of physicians following close behind.

'I understand that you're writing a thesis on the Innocence,' he said to Komui as they walked down the hall. 'If you don't mind my asking, what is it you hope to gain from your observations, Section Chief?'

'The truth,' Komui replied and blinked in surprise when Strausser threw back his head and laughed uproariously.

'The truth!' he exclaimed and gave Komui a hearty, heavy-handed slap on the back, making him stumble forward. 'You have integrity, Chief. I like that in a man.'

'Er...thank you sir,' Komui replied and twisted a little to the side, popping the kinks out of his suddenly stiff back.

'You have to understand Chief; this project is over twenty years in the making,' Strausser went on, turning down the far corridor. Komui followed him. 'We have gone through decades' worth of advancement in the medical field and we are still making discoveries. Do you know that the Innocence and its accommodator are often predetermined?' He stopped in front of a steel, reinforced door. 'Lab 10' was painted neatly across the top rail in white.

'I...thought it was just luck, sir.' Bad luck he added bitterly, but kept it to himself. The Head Officer chuckled.

'There is no such thing as luck in this war Chief,' he said. 'The Millenium Earl has seen to that. No,' he fished a key out of his pocket and turned the lock, 'what we have here are the Lord's chosen; the Exorcists, the Pope's holy army. They are the elite.' He pulled the door open.

Komui felt the cold wash over him, heavy in its silence. 'And do you know why?' Strausser extended his hands like a man awaiting applause and for the first time Komui noticed that the smile on his face did not quite reach those piercing eyes.

'It is because they possess the "god gene".'

'The – what...?' Komui exclaimed, dumbfounded, stepping to the side as the physicians filed into the room. There had been no mention of genetics ever coming into play when he had gone through the previous write-ups on the Innocence. Strausser looked absurdly pleased with himself.

'It is one of my better theories,' he admitted, ushering Komui inside. The cold room smelled like sickness and disinfectant, somehow both sterile and diseased. It left a knot in the pit of his stomach. Komui crushed the feeling instantly, telling himself that he was getting anxious over nothing. 'The god gene is a chance mutation, a miracle birth, from which an exorcist is born. Are you familiar with the story of the Annunciation, Chief?'

'Well I –' Komui began, only to be taken by the shoulder and steered further into the dark room. He heard Reever and Bak fall into step beside him, looking just about as tense and inquisitive as he felt. Standard white hospital beds lined the outer walls but he was being moved along so fast he didn't have the time to check if they were occupied or not.

'So the story goes,' Strausser said, 'the Annunciation took place when the angel Gabriel revealed to the Blessed Virgin that she would conceive a child, and he would be born the Son of God. By going on that we have come to the conclusion that an accommodator does not become compatible with the Innocence purely on a whim, but because they have been born blessed.'

'Because of this god gene,' Komui added. He heard Bak snort quietly somewhere near his right.

'What ridiculousness...' he muttered, though the faint tone in his voice indicated to Komui that he wasn't sure what to think anymore.

'There are one hundred and nine pieces of Innocence scattered around the world. Yet we have less than twenty exorcists. It is no secret that God has favoured certain families over the course of time,' the Head Officer went on. There was a suddenly excited glint in his eyes.

'What are you trying to say, Head Officer?' Reever asked, now looking decidedly uncomfortable over this turn of events.

Strausser grinned triumphantly. 'My dear boy, I am suggesting that the Innocence is a genetic phenomenon. If one person in a family turns out to be an accommodator what's to say that the others aren't as well? The Earl hasn't exactly given us the luxury of time. If we can determine that other blood relations have the potential for becoming exorcists then we'll have reached a major breakthrough, the likes of which the Order has never seen before! We call this project the "Disciple Creation Experiment".'

'And your success rate is...?' Bak trailed off purposely. He was eyeing the doctor shrewdly.

'Trivial, I assure you Herr Chan,' Strausser said dismissively, waving his hand for emphasis. 'Do not concern yourself with the statistics of trial and error when you are working towards the greater good or you'll only be holding yourself back.'

'You're not...hurting them, are you?' Komui wanted to know, suddenly plagued by vivid images of Lenalee looking small and pale against white sheets, bruised and broken and strapped down to a bed as if she were in an asylum, the life in her dark eyes diminished. The memory still gave him nightmares.

'The patients...?' Strausser raised his eyebrows. 'We do not go out of our way to be deliberately cruel to them if that's what you mean.' He gave Komui a disparaging look. '...Section Chief, I am not sure how long you've been at the Order but while you're in on this project...if nothing else, remember that sometimes sacrifices must be made.' He opened another door at the end of the hall.

Komui stared at him. 'Sacrifices...?'

'God...'

Reever suddenly gritted his teeth and looked away. Next to him Bak put his hand over his mouth and shuddered slightly, looking like he was going to be physically sick. His eyes were wide. Komui followed their gaze, only in time to see a white cloth draped over an unmoving body on a marble table. A limp hand peeked out from under the folds, the fingertips badly burnt. His eyes widened.

'Sacrifices,' Strausser repeated. There was an intense look on his face and when he put a hand on Komui's shoulder it was not so much comforting as it was a warning. 'You must understand Chief...' he whispered,

'...We all have a cross to bear in this war.'

* * *

_Present Day, 1895_

'...You bastard.' Bak was shaking. He was shaking and furious and absolutely kicking himself because this was pathetic, this was weakness, his face was reddening with hives and he would have rather died than let Komui see him like this. 'You bastard. That was low and you know it.'

Komui looked somewhat guilty. 'Bak-chan...' he murmured, and walked away from the door, coming towards him. Bak backpedalled into the desk. A stack of papers fell onto the already littered floor. He didn't even give them a second glance.

'What the fuck's going on, Komui?' he snarled and raised his fist threateningly, though the effect was considerably dulled by Komui's Head Officer coat, whose sleeves were so long they flopped over his hands. Bak scowled and rolled them up to his elbows. 'We made a deal. I asked you to never mention that name to me in that context – and I told you why. I fucking told you!'

'I know, I know,' Komui said softly, drawing nearer with his hands raised in a placating gesture. 'And I'm sorry; you know I didn't mean to upset you. It's just, well you said you wanted to know, and I guess I didn't know what else to say that would make you take me seriously so...'

Bak rubbed at his angrily flushed face and sighed heavily. 'Oh shut up,' he said flatly. 'I should kick your ass for doing that, idiot.' He glared at Komui. 'I don't know why you're so hung up about this all of a sudden but couldn't you have just talked to Reever about it?' he demanded. 'He was there too, you know.'

Komui laughed a little. 'Well I'm not exactly Reever's favourite person right now...' he said sheepishly and Bak rolled his eyes.

'You're not exactly in my top ten either after that stunt,' he muttered.

'...and you actually lost someone to those experiments, Bak-chan,' the Head Officer added, which earned him a chilling look from those pale eyes. 'So I thought – '

'Allow me to be blunt,' Bak said abruptly. He cleared some room on the desk and sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. 'I'll say it again. What the hell is going on?'

Komui sat down on the couch in front of him. 'The ghost...'

Bak groaned. 'Not that nonsense again,' he sighed, looking down his nose at Komui. 'I don't believe in ghosts.'

Komui raised his eyebrows. He 'tsk'ed and looked at Bak dubiously. 'This from a man who can summon the spirit of a guardian deity at will; you amaze me Bak-chan.'

Bak 'hmph'ed at that and retorted, 'Fou is not a ghost.' He eyed Komui sharply. 'I see. That's what you're trying to get at isn't it? Are you telling me that Headquarters is haunted?' he snorted. 'Really Komui, I know you pride yourself in your amazing ability to bullshit your way out of almost any situation but that's really taking the cake.'

He pouted. 'I wouldn't lie about something like that!' Bak made a face in response.

'Oh no...? So says the brilliant scientist who blatantly told Leverrier last year that the reason he caught me in a red cheongsam with matching heels and long hair at the Regency Club was because you and I were on a secret stakeout for akuma.'

'You do have pretty legs,' Komui mumbled, his eyes glazing over as they trailed up and over leather boots. Bak self-consciously crossed his thighs and glared.

'Never mind that the Regency is a gentleman's club and you only see a woman there once in a blue moon, and that's really only if they're someone's wife or a high-priced whore,' he grumbled, looking at the ceiling so he wouldn't be caught blushing, 'Don't get me started on the fact that we had no exorcists with us whatsoever either.'

'That dress really suited your skin tone,' the Head Officer said, looking as if he were trying to eat Bak with his eyes. It made him squirm uncomfortably. Komui grinned. 'I don't know what you're complaining about. He bought it didn't he?'

'I'm never betting against you ever again, you dirty cheater.' Bak's shoulders drooped. 'If you ask me he was too flabbergasted to do anything but pretend it didn't happen, thank god. I thought I was going to have a heart-attack.'

'Better him than Strausser,' Komui remarked with quiet and sudden seriousness, prompting Bak to look at him for a long moment. Then he huffed.

'Marginally,' he replied. 'But considering that bastard has been dead for four years I really don't see what that has to do with anything – '

'She told me that she passed away here,' Komui told him, lacing his fingers under his chin. He stared at the floor, 'after being subjected to countless experiments. They tore up her body and left her to die.'

'What?' Bak demanded, sitting up a little straighter. 'Who did?' Komui shrugged apologetically.

'I don't know,' he admitted. 'She couldn't remember her name. But it was grotesque,' he raised his fingertips to his cheeks as if to demonstrate, 'it looked like the flesh had melted off her face. She had all the marks of his victims and her story was pretty much spot on.'

Bak stared at him. 'That's...was she one of Strausser's Chosen?' His brows furrowed in thought. 'Of course, it has his signature all over it. But...no one survived those experiments,' he whispered, looking up. Komui smiled faintly. His eyes were sad. Bak bit at the corner of his thumbnail for a minute. Then he sighed in resignation. 'You aren't making this up are you?'

Komui chuckled; it sounded bitter to his own ears. 'I wish I was,' he replied and something about his tone of voice made the Branch Director inclined to believe him.

'So Headquarters really is haunted then?' Bak shook his head and laughed. 'Christ,' he muttered tiredly and put a hand over his eyes. 'Why am I even surprised? If ever there was a sin against God committed in this miserable place that would be it by a long shot.'

'They didn't move on,' Komui said softly. 'Even after all this time...'

'Would you have been able to?' Bak asked him, now looking off to the side. 'If a madman deemed you worthy enough to become an apostle of God and then subjected you to that – that torture...? After all the families and lives he destroyed?'

'I suppose not,' Komui conceded, sinking back against the couch. He ran a finger down the bridge of his nose; his face felt naked without the familiar weight of his glasses. Bak glanced back at him and tilted his head a little.

'You look younger,' he observed. Then the corner of his mouth crooked into a half-smile. 'I knew you were just wearing those things to put on an air of superiority.'

Komui couldn't help but grin despite the heavy atmosphere. 'Nonsense Bak-chan,' he drawled, 'just because people automatically feel inclined to respect a man with glasses does not mean I've gone down the dishonest path. Believe it or not I do need them to read these days.'

'I'll just bet,' Bak said dryly. 'That's what you get for staying up all night making those ridiculous inventions.'

'You're one to talk,' Komui replied, pulling his lower eyelids down with his fingers and making a face. 'Just look at those panda-eyes, Bak-chan. When was the last time you got a proper night's sleep?'

'Hmph. Some of us don't get to put their head down all that often because they're actually doing their jobs.'

'Komui shook his head. 'I don't know how you do it Bak-chan,' he said disbelievingly. 'You don't even drink coffee.'

Bak wrinkled his nose. 'After seeing you chug down that disgusting black swill like it was holy water? It's enough to turn anyone off. The lingering threat of being drop-kicked in my sleep is enough to keep me alert at all hours thanks all the same.'

'I see. You still have nightmares then.'

'...'

'It's nothing to be ashamed of Bak-chan,' Komui said softly. 'I had them too – '

Bak didn't look at him. 'Tell me what happened,' he muttered, in a voice so inaudible he had to strain to hear it. His knuckles were white where they gripped the desk. 'And don't leave out the details. My ears aren't made of glass.'

Komui hesitated. 'Bak-chan –' He sighed and ran his hand over his forehead while his eyes traced patterns in the ceiling cracks.

'...Alright.'

* * *

**A/N**: As I was thinking about how Komui became Head Officer, it occured to me that the man who preceded him must have been a real piece of work, if he had no problem experimenting on people, even children, in an attempt to create exorcists. That's how I came up with Viktor Strausser. I based him off of _Josef Mengele_, the man known as the 'Angel of Death' in the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. Look it up. The man was a psycho. Strausser is both the Section Chief of the Medical Dept and Head Officer in this story. Who better than a doctor to perform human experiments right? The man is obsessed with fame and glory, as you'll see in later chapters.

During the Suman Dark story, Komui is seen to be leaning over his desk, saying _'Don't get sentimental. Only one thing matters, victory.'_ I've made it so that it was the previous Head Officer, Strausser, that drilled this idea into Komui's brain while he was researching the Innocence.

Strausser is German. I made him so not because his Nazi inspiration was one, but rather because Bak is of Chinese/German ancestry. Strausser is a purist. Bak is a 'half-breed'. You can imagine why he doesn't think too highly of the man now. There is tension between them that existed long before Komui came into the picture.

Komui, to an extent, holds his tongue with the higher ups because he hopes doing that will help him protect others, especially his sister. He placates them and tells them what they want to hear. Bak is, by contrast, running on high emotion. He can't keep his mouth shut. Did you see how he wouldn't back down when Leverrier threatened Allen? Komui had to tell him to sit his ass down and be quiet. Now this is just my opinion but I think that was another reason why Bak wasn't made Head Officer. They wanted someone they could control fairly easily, not question them at every single turn. That's not saying Bak has a higher emotional capacity than Komui, rather when he gets upset, he can't help but protest, and violently. That will become apparent in this story too - why Strausser favours Komui over Bak, who he calls 'weak' and 'sympathetic' because he openly insults his work.

This caused tension between Bak and Komui for awhile, as you'll see in the flashbacks. The story is still mainly set in the present, right after the Zombie Arc.


End file.
